


The most charming woman in Galar

by comfey



Category: Pocket Monsters | Pokemon (Main Video Game Series), Pocket Monsters | Pokemon - All Media Types, Pocket Monsters: Sword & Shield | Pokemon Sword & Shield Versions
Genre: Ballonlea, Drama, Gen, Mid-Game, its not gratuitously sad its very cute i promise, ok opal taking care of bede is cute but what about the other way round, third person limited narrator (from bede's angle) but its mostly about opal, this is basically my tribute of love to her, young opal mention
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-04
Updated: 2020-02-04
Packaged: 2021-02-28 03:47:14
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,723
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22557361
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/comfey/pseuds/comfey
Summary: How Bede went from brat to nicer person through learning to understand and love someone.
Relationships: Beet | Bede & Poplar | Opal
Comments: 11
Kudos: 72
Collections: BeadsAndOpals





	The most charming woman in Galar

**Author's Note:**

> English is my third language and I played the game in Spanish, if a character seems missing a 'characteristic speech pattern' or something, sorry, I missed that.

Bede was mixing berries on the kitchen counter as fast as he could, and as fast as his violently trembling hands allowed him too. Just like she didn't like conventional textbooks, Opal had also a preference for alternative medicine. Bede wouldn't be trusting witch concoctions if it weren’t for the fact that the octogenarian woman said that's what kept her alive for so long, and because he himself once experienced its effects in action—a homemade potion she gave him once made his cold go away.

Minutes ago, he flickered through the pages of one of her natural remedies tome and identified the recipe that could save her, if she had fainted. But he was worried that she had more than fainted. He wasn't even aware of how much he was crying at that moment.

Alcremie did not understand what was going on. She scrutinized Bede, innocently, with her cherry-red eyes, and tried to pull his sleeve. Bede wasn’t usually mean to Alcremie—it was impossible to be mean to something that cute—but given the urgency and severity of the situation, he had to push her away and tell her to leave him alone. If only she could be returned to her Pokéball; unfortunately, only her trainer could do that.

If _it_ had really happened, then Bede's last words to his mentor had been: _This training is a nightmare_.

* * *

Earlier that day, the Fairy connoisseur was giving her student his afternoon lesson. Though, instead of brandishing her umbrella as usual—so that she could tap his head whenever he got a question wrong—she was holding a cup of tea. She didn’t usually drink tea in the afternoon, as it disturbed her sleep; but had been feeling weak and tired that day, and needed some caffeine and sugar to kept herself active.

"So… Violet met an elegant, Fairy/Ice-typed, Ninetales" she summarized as she walked across the room. "And she thought he was a unique Pokemon, since none of the Ninetales of her region looked like that. But then, when she sailed to the tropical islands, she found there were many ones like hers. However, hers was still unique. Why?"

"Because she had cared for him and loved him" Bede recited. At least, that question was not weird and something he could have expected.

After an intentional pause, the woman nodded. "Correct."

It was an 'afternoon', at least according to the time marked by a cuckoo clock with a miniature Spritzee that Opal owned. The sun never actually shone in Ballonlea. Bede was sitting on the only table in the house, in the biggest room in the house, which served the purpose of both a kitchen and a living room. An oil lamp illuminated the decaying pages of _Little Violet_. Alcremie was silently playing on the kitchen counter, examining a jar of glazed cookies.

The question that the boy had just been asked was a part of Opal's quizzes. These often featured questions like "What color was Violet's dress in chapter 13?" or even "Can you remember what we had for dessert 4 days ago?". He thought that 'training' was a complete waste of time. Why couldn't they just battle wild Pokémon, or even battle each other, like Victor and Hop were probably doing in anticipation to the League? The book Opal was making him read was not even academic. It was some whimsical fairy tale about some little girl who wore Mary Janes and talked to Fairy Pokémon.

"Now," Opal resumed, "read Chapter 14 while I come up with the next round of questions."

Bede groaned, "Oh, I wonder who Violet will meet in this chapter. Maybe a Mawile who eats with a knife and a fork. Or a Swirlix who has a college diploma. Come on, this is ridiculous, these stories never happened."

"Of course they never happened!" she retorted. "They're allegories. Fables. They all have a moral, and you shall find and learn from that message. That is, if you can read with your heart and not your eyes. Can you?"

She glanced at him, menacingly. He begrudgingly reopened the yellowing tome.

"This training is a nightmare."

Not like he didn't expect his tutor to have the last word, after that. He was waiting for her to make some snarky comeback, but instead, all he heard is the sound of a teacup breaking on the floor. He watched Opal sit down on the table, staring vacantly at its uneven wooden surface, and mumble something before passing out on it.

He called her and even resorted to shaking her, but he was unable to wake her up.

* * *

And those were his last words to her. But if he had to choose among anything he said to her ever, could he find something better? Among his usual antics, a notable one was threatening to quit being a trainer; even if, deep down, he didn't really mean it. He had been complaining since day one, first of all, about the uniform.

"It's a dress" he scowled as he unfolded the item of clothing. He forced a laugh. "This must be a mistake."

Opal, who was wearing now a white blouse and a long black skirt under her purple faux-fur shawl, shook her head. "It's not just a dress. It's the dress I wore for 70 years, and my mother before me."

"But they make those in shirts too" Bede responded, getting impatient. "I know Victor bought one at the uniform shop."

"Oh, those are nothing but worthless commercial imitations," Opal made a gesture of unimportance. "You have in your hands the inimitable symbol of Fairy prestige."

"I'm going to smell like old lady cologne forever" he whined. He specifically meant a sickly sweet mix of lavender, cinnamon and baby powder. Opal smelt like that, the dress smelt like that, everything in her house smelt like that.

"Nonsense" she turned around energetically as she readjusted her shawl. "Go and get changed, I'll be waiting at the stadium. Spit-spot!"

He decided to just tie it behind his back and wear shorts underneath, and Opal let it slide, as long as he wore it. That was when he first learned that she'd teach him with the discipline of a general, and there was no arguing with the longest-standing Fairy gym leader.

* * *

Bede also complained about the changes he had to introduce in his team. The old Fairy lady didn't understand how to use the Rotomi at the Pokemon center, and instead stored Pokéballs in boxes in a changing room at the Ballonlea theater, alongside decades-old costumes, props, and stage decorations. When she handed him a Gardevoir and Sylveon, the Fairy apprentice complained about how these Pokemon were 'for sissies'.

"You won't do very well in life if you judge a book by its cover" Opal replied. She was always very calm and collected in front of Bede's rude attitude, but firm and respectable, even when he'd call her an 'old bat'. "And, how would you feel if you were a Pokémon and someone made fun of you for looking girly?"

"That doesn't make any sense" the boy scoffed. "I'm not a Pokémon."

"But you could have been born as one, because you didn't choose being born as Bede either. Think about it. Maybe a mischievous Whimsicott" the old woman chuckled as she attempted to pat his platinum beige curls which resembled the Pokémon, but the boy rejected her with a movement that could have nearly been considered a slap on the hand. Her expression tensed a bit then. "So that's how it is, hm?"

And that was her cue to challenged her apprentice to a dual battle: him, with Duosion and Gothorita, versus her, commanding Gardevoir and Sylveon, as a majestic show of the unrivalled power of Fairies. After an embarrassing loss, Bede welcomed and never complained about the new two members of his team again.

* * *

Why was it so different with Chairman Rose? Bede would treat him respectfully, and even was a bit intimidated by him. Maybe, it was the contrast with the orphanage from where he just came from when the man took him under his wing. Or with the conflictive family he barely remembers anything about because he was 3, but might be imprinted in his subconscious. Rose actually didn't care much, and just threw money at his protégé and let him do what he wanted: stay up past 10, eat sushi every day, wear a coat with 3 removable pockets and toe shoes, anything as long as he didn't destroy a mural.

Everyone loved Rose. He had cumulated a fortune, and everyone knows money buys respect. He was also friendly, but always busy. And Bede thought that was cool; because only a desperate lonely person would give undivided attention to someone else—like Opal did to him. He secretly kind of wished to be loved by everyone—like Rose, but without making the effort. 

On the other hand, nobody liked Opal. Bede assumed he had only chosen him as his successor because it was convenient: it was obvious he had nowhere to go, nothing to do and nowhere to stay. And, if he had some dignity, he'd morally have a debt with her once she paid the fine to the Stow-On-Side city council for felony mischief on his behalf. People generally found her eccentric and were annoyed by her enigmatic way of talking, pressuring them into wearing pink, always asking young challengers unpredictable questions out of pure spite.

She didn't have much material wealth but a humble little house among the Ballonlea towering trees, with tons of bizarre old books, useless ceramic trinkets and kitschy tableware. The only fun thing to do there was playing with his Pokémon. Opal's Pokémon seemed to like Opal, and even so did Bede's, though. They say 'Pokémon can see the truth in people'; but that's just a popular aphorism as meaningless as all the others, he believed. However, one day when he saw Opal petting Alcremie, Duosion and Gothorita—the latter two who lived now comfortably as house pets—giving them treats and with the most genuine smile on her face, his perception of her started to change.

* * *

The second time it did was when he was at the bakery running errands she'd made him do on Saturday mornings. He ran to the bakery, wearing casual clothes. Not his old purple coat, but what Opal chose for him now: a white shirt and socks, brown shorts and loafers, and—of course—a pink newsboy hat. Some heavy-set old man in the queue, with an Impidimp on his shoulder, inquired to him:

"Excuse me young man, is it true what they say? That Opal has retired and passed the baton to a young man with a record of vandalism? Could that be you?"

That was not the most flattering description. "Tch. Yes, that's me" he grunted.

"Incredible" he whispered, staring at the distance, with a pensive frown. "I made a bet with a good friend of mine that she was going to croak before ever retiring." His eyes abruptly returned to Bede, filled with terror, like he had made some fatal slip up. "Oh, no, you're not her grandson or anything, aren’t you?"

"No, I'm not" Bede answered, as curtly as before.

"Great" the man sighted in relief, and rubbed his hands together. "I also made a bet with that friend of mine that she was going to stay an old maid forever, so it's even now."

"Who the hell are you?" Bede finally exclaimed. For some reason, the slightly disrespectful way in which he was talking about Opal was making him mad.

The Impidimp owner laughed heartily. "Just a man who used to be a trainer, but soon found quicker ways to make money… and one of the few that still remember when Opal first performed as a gym leader! Most of the people today weren't alive, and those who were… well, you'd be lucky to find one who remembers his own name!" he wheezed. "But this Opal… she keeps her memory intact, because she's always been kind of a witch, I tell ya. Me, I'm only 79, I was just a little lad then, but I remember Opal's gym leader debut like it was yesterday, when she was also a gorgeous theater starlet."

That last line made Bede snort.

"I'm not kidding" the man insisted, now very seriously. "Ask her. She was an actress and back then everyone considered her 'the most charming woman in Galar'. So arrogant and twisted though. No wonder she never got married. I remember her mother too, she was even stricter and colder than her, as crazy as it sounds. She died on an accident riding her Rapidash, when she wasn't even 40."

Now Bede understood why Opal was so adamant of him not riding his Rapidash at gallop or without a helmet.

On his way home, he could still hear the story about younger Opal as told by the man in his head. He hated to admit it, but he saw himself in it. He was pretty too—tall, long eyelashes, angel hair—but he always ended isolated. Victor, Hop and Marnie never called him to hang out, unless they needed a fourth person for a G-Max raid. And that was fully his fault, for the cruel things he had said to the boys, for the things he had never apologized for.

Maybe he was going to be lonely for 88 years if he did not change. But it was just so hard for him to do so. He didn't like being nice; it made him feel vulnerable, for some reason.

"What took you so long?" the old Fairy woman reprimanded him when he came back home. She was sitting on the armchair reading a book about Fairy/Psychic enchantments for daily life.

"Some old guy with an Impidimp started to ramble to me" Bede explained.

"Goodness gracious, that Horace. That man is a hopeless gambler. Tell me you haven’t given him the bread money."

"I haven't, I've bought the bread." Bede raised the bag indicating his purchases, and then pondered for a hot second what to reveal about the conversation and what not. He decided to leave everything out except the following, "He… said you used to be a famous actress. Is that true?"

He hadn’t asked her anything personal until then. And while he did, he felt like he was meddling into something he wasn't supposed to. However, her reaction couldn't be more distant from a reprimand.

She was very enthusiastic to show him a collection of old photos of herself, in either Edwardian-style clothing or in the ornate period costumes that she wore to her theater performances, sometimes with little Milcery and Togepi. Now, he agreed with Horace. He couldn't have named a woman alive with a more striking beauty than hers. Her white hair and eyebrows used to be a powerful raven color, and her nose—smaller than now, but still more prominent than the average—is perhaps what granted her face so much character. Her eyes were light-colored like now but radiated burning passion.

After that revelation, he couldn’t help but see Opal—whom he used to think was a special kind of hideous—as not-so-ugly. Involuntarily, he associated some of her current features, such as her thick eyelashes or thin face shape, to that young lady in the photos, and couldn't help but see her present self as, even, 'kind of pretty'.

Suddenly, it made sense to Bede. She was beaming about the fact someone could still remember her as what she used to be. Every morning, she'd do her makeup for thirty minutes. Dark purple eyeshadow, bright red lipstick, heavy eyeliner and foundation. In the evening, she'd wear curlers. She'd use an umbrella to walk instead of a cane, and a hefty shawl to dissimulate her slight hunch. She'd get offended when people guessed she was 88. Her league card said she wanted to retire because 'her values reached their limits' and not simply from old age. Even her jersey number, 910, was a pun for 'cute'.

She'd give so much for a chance to be young again, but she was clearly aware that her theater star days were over. Part of Bede wanted to tell her that she was still elegant and pretty; the other part prevented him from doing so, because being nice meant exposing a part of him that made him weak.

* * *

The afternoon she fainted, he found himself wishing too that the ex actress was younger. It took the young man no effort to pick her up and carry her to bed. He's always been taller than most boys; she was little more than skin and bones, and her bones weren't that heavy anymore. That brought him back memories of one day when they were walking in the Glimwood Tangle.

Opal was teaching him a practical lesson for once. She said she went there since she was a little girl and knew secret places no one else but the Pokémon knew. They went there to observe and learn from Fairy Pokémon in their wild habitat, and for Opal to pick some herbs for her witchcraft brews; but really, Bede suspected it was only for the latter.

Undoubtedly they had been walking for hours, and Morelull powder was floating in the air. Opal said she was tired, but they couldn't call a Corviknight taxi. The area of the Tangle they were in was completely covered by branches, plus was probably not even on the map. So she asked her disciple to let her hold his arm as they walked. He'd push her away when she tried to touch him in any way—even just to fix his collar or hair—but denying her help to walk felt like being too much of a jerk, even for him.

Under the dim light of the green bioluminescent mushrooms, he lent her his arm. And at that instant is when he really noticed how thin hers was. One of the young trainer's insecurities were his thin wrists, and how the watch Rose gave him seemed to just float around it. But Opal's wrists made him feel like he had the manliest arms in Galar. That woman, so wise and commanding, had yet such a fragile small body. Bede was suddenly overwhelmed with the feeling that he had to protect her. To take care of her like she did for him. It wouldn't hurt to be nice to her, at least once.

"Why did you choose me as your heir?" he started in a soft tone. "I never asked you that… I always assumed you did out of convenience, but recently I think it's maybe because… we are alike."

"Hm. That's yet another enigma you have to solve" Opal teased.

"Whatever the reason… t-thank you" he finally uttered after monumental effort. At least in the dark, it was easier for the young man to be sincere without feeling too embarrassed.

She just giggled quietly, and this time he didn't flinch when she pinched his cheek.

* * *

Now the mixture was done, he just had to boil it, and the scent should wake her up. He went to her room with the revitalizing concoction. She was laying there as she left her; eyes closed, calm like the night. Her makeup was only slightly worn off but otherwise intact, like a fresh coat of paint on an old house. He left the pot on the bedtable, and sat in the edge of the bed, sobbing more quietly now. He waited there for seconds that felt like hours. His heart jumped when he saw her move a bit, although without opening her eyes, as if she just wanted to stay longer in bed on a Sunday morning.

"Hey, Opal" he called, his pulse accelerating. Then he softly caressed her cheek. "It's me, Bede"

Reacting to his touch, she opened her eyes slowly. She was disoriented, then mentally revisited the events that had led her where she was now. She noticed the steaming bowl on the bed table that had saved her from unconsciousness. "Oh, you did this for me? Thank you. That's very sweet from you."

And that was enough for him to break into tears again.

"Hey, what's the matter?" she asked, perplexed. Alcremie ran towards her and climbed into bed, happily resting on her trainer's lap as she petted her peacefully.

Bede took a deep breath to stop crying at least while he talked. It was simpler to just go straight to the point.

"I love you. That's what I wanted to say, but it's so hard for me for some reason. Maybe because I've never said 'I love you' to anyone before. I love you even if I've only known you for a few months." His voice broke again at that point, "A-and I'm not ready to lose you yet…"

Even though he was crying, his words brought unprecedented joy to Opal. "My child, listen, I'm not leaving yet. I still have a lot to teach you. And don't worry, I knew you loved me even if you didn't say it. My mother was the same. She never told me she loved me but I knew she did." Opal made a small pause to stare at the ceiling. "But you're the first person that's told me 'I love you'. In 88 years of my life. Funny…"

The young man was surprised to hear that, and then noticed her aquamarine-blue eyes were getting watery too. Nothing to say came to his mind, so he just reached for her hand. She reciprocated his grip.

"It's okay. It was worth the wait. I'm happy you told me" she insisted, smiling through the tears. "I love you too."

Bede wasn't sure if he'd be able to say she was 'like a grandmother' to him; he didn't know what having a grandmother was like. She was just Opal, but he did know that he loved her, and life was too short not to show it. And he knew what love was, because love felt pink to him. He leaned over her to hold her in his arms carefully, so she wouldn't have to get up yet, and she returned the embrace. He actually liked her old lady cologne.

**Author's Note:**

> Nnnnnnnnnknbjmnvhhbbbbbbb I wrote this with a lot of love...I'm sorry if something like that has been done before; I didn't read stories on them because I didn't want my brain to subliminally copy ideas + it would demoralize me about writing mine. If it has, I'm profoundly sorry. Kudos/comments greatly appreciated, my confidence is lower than the dollar store menu. I love Opal. I don't come to this website often, I mostly draw, my twitter is @milcherie.
> 
> Edit: Thank you everyone I am so happy this was well received! ;_;/<3 I fixed some grammar mistakes. ALSO I have to add that I originally played the game in Spanish and when she asks you for her nickname the options were 'the wizard' or 'the witch'. I thought this was really interesting because of the nuances of the words--which work in English too (informally, witch is 'an ugly or unpleasant woman' and wizard is a dated adjective for 'wonderful' or 'excellent'). I thought this was another case of "one answer is true and the other is what she wants you to answer", so I hc'd her real nickname being 'the witch'--and accordingly, the general opinion on her by other Galarian people.
> 
> The choices in English are 'the wizard' and 'the magic-user' though... The latter is devoid of that connotation, so maybe from the perspective of someone who played in English, my characterization was too headcanon-y ^^'Edit 2: Also, Bede calls Opal "Sally" but calls Oleana "Señorita Olivia" (which is odd because in English he does the opposite--"Ms Opal" and just "Oleana"). I kept it without honorifics as in Spanish, it felt like they had become close friends lol


End file.
